Columns

I know it's probably a losing proposition to take political advice from a candidate who couldn't even clear her party primary. But sometimes the wisdom (or lack thereof) is too much to simply walk past. Sometimes you do have to point out the farcical theory being offered.

At the Heritage Foundation’s 2018 Antipoverty Forum on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called for a revival of the dignity of work in America in order to preserve the American Dream for future generations. A partial transcript of Rubio’s remarks is below:

Republican Gov. Rick Scott leads Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by 12,562 votes in the Florida Senate race. A margin of victory that large has never be overturned in a recount. According to FairVote, the average vote shift in statewide general election recounts is a meager 282 votes. "The biggest swing came in Florida's 2000 presidential election recount, when Al Gore cut 1,247 votes off George W. Bush's lead, ultimately not enough to flip the state to his column," according to a FiveThirtyEight report on what FairVote found.

The rhetoric is always pointed, and the emotions so quickly brought to the surface. Frequently, if not outright consistently, the accusation from Democrats is that the GOP often engages in voter suppression, vote tampering, or voter fraud. These charges are leveled by politicians, and they are echoed fervently by the media. Note the lack of application of evidence, or lack of curiosity of the rules. Frequently the call for election officials to follow the law is what is signaled as “suppression”.

When French President Emmanuel Macron denounced populist nationalism this week and called on world leaders to support institutions such as the United Nations that defend "the common good of the world," liberal elites cheered. The speech was seen as a rebuke of President Trump, whose opposition to "globalism" and embrace of "nationalism" are held up as signs of the decay of American conservatism and U.S. global leadership.